I like challenges. I enjoy seeing how far I can push myself and the Reveille Peak 100 by Terra Firma Racing was a test on my mind, body, and bike. In the past year that I have been doing some mountain bike racing, I have only competed in one other endurance event. It was a six hour race put on last winter and it was tough. Going into the Reveille Peak 100, I knew that pacing myself would not only be the most important thing, but also the hardest.

I’m competitive and I have a really hard time with watching people peddle away from me. However, going into this event I kept telling myself that even if I let people peddle away early, I would see them again before the race would end.

The Reveille Peak Ranch is one of the most beautiful places that I have been to. I didn’t think that trails like they offer existed anywhere, except for Moab. Rocks, sand, long climbs, they had it all. The facilities were top notch as well.

The race started Sunday morning at 7:15. I was told that they had estimated our finish time to be close to eight hours, this made me nervous. Eight hours is a long time and with temperatures expected to be near 103, things could get very difficult. My plan was to stay hydrated, and fueled throughout the event and follow eventual leader, Nathan Winkleman, as long as possible. Nathan is an endurance racer, he can run, bike, and navigate for days. I knew that of everyone there, he would be the hardest to outlast. The race started with a Lemans style start and from the get go, I followed Nathan. We watch a handful of guys ride away from us but we worked together taking turns pulling. At the end of lap one, we were in third and fourth, with second place only thirty seconds up. The leader was a couple of minutes ahead but after one lap, the race was hardly even a race. Midway through the second lap, we decided to push and bridge the gap to second place. We were successful and after a few hard efforts, we dropped the second place rider and were now the two leaders as the original leader was out with a mechanical.

We finished the second and third laps together but Nathan flatted just before the start of the fourth and final lap. This gave me a cushion but I knew from the way my legs were feeling that the next fifteen mile lap would be very hard. I figured that even after fixing a flat, Nathan could probably chase me down. The temperature was already over 100 degrees and I focused on just turning my cranks to keep moving forward. Halfway through the lap, I flatted and had to put a tube in. Nathan passed me just as I got going and that was the last time that I saw him.

I finished the race in second, just four minutes behind Nathan and considering the leg cramps, and time spent walking up some of the brutal climbs, I was really happy with my result. I can’t rave enough about my Santa Cruz Tallboy, the bike is light, strong, and worked excellent all day long!

Here is a look at the data from my Garmin 305 that I had mounted on my handlebar.